CLICK HERE FOR A RUNNING DESCRIPTION OF ALL FRINGE PLAYS

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51 & Counting
After-party
Along the Path of Larks and Swallows
Candide, or Optimism (Part I)
Crazy Bag
Doormen
Endless Frontier
Evelyn Reese Show
Exit Sign: A Rock Opera
Exotic Messages
FLUID
i scan
Identity Crisis
If You're Going to San Francisco
In the Belly of the Whale
Iron Muffin,Glass Jungle II
It Is What It Is
Jew Must Be Crazy
Knuckleball
Last Exit
LATE NIGHTS WITH THE BOYS
Lost and Found in the Mission
Loving Fathers
Madge's Box
Marie 21 and Flying
Mitch
Monkey Poet
Moon Fable
Mr. P's Big Day Off
My Camino
My Friend Hitler
No Stranger Than Home
Number's Up!
On Second Thought
Open Season - A Queer Performance Showcase
Peg-Ass-Us
Punchline
Single Entendre VS. Comedy!
Son of Genderanium
Sonderkommando
Tale End
Taste of Enlightenment
Tenderloin Christmas Hustler
theatre that Moves
There's a Monster in the Well!
To Kill For
True Theatre Critic
Ukulady's Ponyshow!

The Endless Frontier is a magical, experimental-musical brimming with witty satire, foot-tapping tunes, and enormous puppets!

Follow two fool-hearty adventurers and a demigod who all seek open space within the collapse of the American West. Brimming with old-time neo-folk songs, set against a giant mountain of junk, The Endless Frontier explores the notion of consumption and expansion amidst a shrinking open landscape. Using text, movement, puppetry, and original live music, this piece will take you on a ride through the heartache of the old west and back out again.

The Endless Frontier is presented by Ko Labs - www.kolabs.org

Created by Niki Selken, www.nikiselken.com
Directed by Niki Selken
Stage Management by Maya Orli Cohen
Production design and puppetry by Justina Kochansky,
Costume design by Kasey Smith
Original Music by Gabriel Gilder, Aaron Levine, and Niki Selken
Performers include Niki Selken, Justina Kochansky, Danielle Sublett, Zack, Gabriel Gilder, Aaron Levine, David Manning, and Emily Encina.

The Endless Frontier was created in collaboration with those listed as well as Steven Tritto, Harvey Rabbit, and Tera Kilbride. Special thanks to the family of the ensemble for your support made the show possible.

Directors Notes:
We are taking a closer look at the American mythology which gave birth to our national past-time of expansion and consumption: Manifest Destiny. "Originally a political catch phrase of the 19th century, "Manifest Destiny" eventually became a standard historical term, often used as a synonym for the expansion of the United States across the North American continent, " and beyond. I believe that this heartache of the old west is our heartache and that the song of the summer is indeed playing over the speaker in the shopping mall where we purchase our existence. As out exterior space shrinks, we must turn to the interior space as a region to conquer. When even our most intimate human moments can exist over the cell phone on a busy city street, miles away from our loved one, we must ask ourselves: what discoverable space is left for us to find solitude? Upon attempting to answer that question for myself, a bit unsuccessfully I might add, I was brought back to the beginning: "Where did this all start?" It is from this point that we enter the endless frontier. The Endless Frontier is dedicated to the memory of my father and uncle, Marvin and Carol Selken.

BIOS:

Aaron Levine is a musician living in San Francisco. He graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2004 with a BA in European History and is currently involved with multiple musical projects in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas.

Danielle Sublett enjoys comparing, contrasting and researching all things discarded, antiquated, outdated and archaic. She also enjoys gluing them together.

David Manning is a failed classical violinist who aspires to be a washed up rock violinist. David is available to play birthday parties and bar mitzvahs for children whose parents love them, but don't like them. Check out www.myspace.com/davidJmanning.

Emily Encina has acted as stage manager, media designer, technical
crew member and musician for theatre troupes in both San Francisco and
Santa Cruz. While most of her background in activism and the arts has
centered around media justice, she has worked in various collaborative
projects that utilize all forms of creative expression for empowerment
and education.

Gabriel Gilder is a San Francisco-based musician, graphic designer, and video artist. He graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a fine arts major focusing on video and installation. His work is often interdisciplinary, and integrates a diverse range of influences, from Bollywood to Brian Eno to postmodern architecture to Japanese stickers. He strives to blend elegance, mystery, and humor to surprise and delight his audience.

Justina Kochansky graduated with a degree in puppetry after writing the curriculum for it herself. She studied shadow puppetry in Bali through a program offered by Dell'Arte. While most of her puppet shows took place on the East Coast, you can see some current vignettes at her web comic, articulatematter.com.

Kasey Smith is an installation/performance artist who lives and works in San Francisco. She graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2003 with a degree in fine art. After utilizing textiles and clothing in her work for several years, she has now branched out into costume design as a new way to address issues in her work. She is currently a member of the arts collective Cadresquad and is working on several performance installations involving historic San Francisco landmarks.

Niki Selken www.nikiselken.com M.F.A. is a director, experimental performer, musician, activist and teacher living in San Francisco.She fuses original text, multi instrument music, puppetry, and dance to create vibrant, humorous, and daring works. Niki has performed, directed and studied internationally. She performed and acted as lighting designer for the dance company, Ragesties at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2002, she founded the UK based performance company CAT productions, and studied acting and lighting design at the Drama department of the University of Birmingham, England. She has also performed and/or worked with Shakespeare Santa Cruz, The San Jose Stage Company, The The Erika Shuch Performance Project at the Yerba Buena Center for Performing Arts, The Garage, Crash Cabaret at the Roxy Theater, and with her band Cosmic Star who have performed throughout the Bay Area. She has recently co-founded the theater company and performance space, Ko Labs, and is excited to present The Endless Frontier at the 2008 San Francisco Fringe Festival!

ZACK is a performer, director and teacher/trainer, whose work is informed by expansive experience in all aspects of performance, including acting, choreography, theory, production, management and collaboration. Perhaps best known to Bay Area audiences for his living room performances of Wallace Shawn's "The Fever," Zack served as the Artistic Director for the SF-based experimental theater company Common Cultural Practice for several years before pursuing his doctorate at Stanford University. He has created/directed more than forty productions, and has performed professionally in works by Meredith Monk, Anne Bogart, Ping Chong, The Drawing Legion and Deborah Slater Dance Theater. His original performance works have been presented in New York, Paris, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Zack has taught at Bennington College, Stanford University, San Francisco State University, and the Experimental Performance Institute at the ill-fated New College of California, and is a certified teacher of NIA (Neuro-Muscular Integrative Activity).